Let Me Steal This Moment From You Now
by seasaltmemories
Summary: She wasn't a girl anymore. She couldn't sell her dignity so easily now that she knew it wouldn't earn her true love. Maybe nothing would in the long run. She wasn't ruthless enough to do anything for her goals nor gentle enough to give them up. But then a letter from a certain someone offered a third path for her.
1. Do You Want To Know It Does Hurt Me?

Sometimes her classmates frightened her.

It was a thought Dorothea didn't like to admit. She loved them all to bits, Edie especially. When it came between choosing her and the church, there had been no choice. The Black Eagles were all she had. Yet for the next five years she could never stay confident in such a decision.

Killing had never been easy for her. In their academy days she had been able to view it as a temporary evil, the price she must pay for admission. Finding a rich noble to take care of her always took priority over any military aspirations. But when Edie conscripted her as a general, soon her only escape from this life became death. Killing was an everyday occurrence.

And yet no one else seemed as distressed by the fact. None of them took pleasure in it, despite what any Church propaganda might say, but if their resolve ever wavered, they never showed it. It was completely alien to her. Even if Edie and her beautiful dream of a class-free society ever did come to exist, Dorothea knew she would have never been able to do what she had. She never would have been able damn so many people who had the misfortune of getting in the way. Any time she found the two of them slipping into flirtation, she found herself haunted by the same question.

_ "Would Edelgard sacrifice you too one day?" _

The minute the war ended she hung up her sword, tried to forget all the spells she has ingrained in her soul. Running back to the stage felt like a bit of a coward move, but it was the only other skill she had left that didn't feel tainted now. Besides there were lots of people who wanted to hear her sing again, a few she might have even wanted to sing for. Bringing happiness to others was a much more admirable goal. But after her first return performance, when she found herself being flocked by greedy, lecherous men who didn't even try to hide their leers now that she was an adult, it took all her willpower not to strike the entire building with a meteor spell.

She wasn't a girl anymore. She couldn't sell her dignity so easily now that she knew it wouldn't earn her true love. Maybe nothing would in the long run. She wasn't ruthless enough to do anything for her goals nor gentle enough to give them up. The stalemate frustrated her so much she considered leaving before the week was over.

But then a letter from a certain someone offered a third path for her.

"An excellent performance, Miss Arnault." His voice startled her, but she did her best to appear unaffected.

"Why thank you, Hubie," Despite her light tone, rather than face him, she focused on her reflection as she brushed her hair. "Always nice to see you when we're in town."

"It would look poor on me to not attend a company I have pledged my patronage to." There were footsteps and suddenly a bouquet of hydrangeas was pushed in her face. As she looked up she found golden eyes staring deeply into her own. "Although I believe you've only _seen_ me just now."

It was ironic, out of all of her former classmates, Hubie had always worn his heartlessness of his sleeve. Yet somehow that made him all the easier to be around. Perhaps because it was quite simple to tell if he really wanted to poison you or not after a few weeks. There was a honesty in his dishonesty.

"Well how was I supposed to be sure it was you and not some impostor considering you didn't just call me Dorothea. Really Hubie I never heard of people growing _more_ formal with each other over time."

"I try to be obvious whether I'm making a personal or business call." He nodded towards the bouquet. Hidden in the middle was a note. On her first reading it seemed to be nothing more than polite praise of her skills, but when she applied their secret code on the second reading, it told a much different story.

"I've been told he has already gotten tickets to your show next week." He pressed his back against the wall as he laced his fingers together across his knee. "It will likely be easy for you to keep an eye on him for Her Majesty's sake."

It was funny that of the roles she had played, this was her first time being a spy. She had anticipated herself taking a while to get a hang of it, but really she wasn't doing anything differently from when she had before–taking in any scrap of information that might help keep her from having to return to the streets. The only difference now was that she also took into consideration what Edie might like to hear.

She looked back up to face Hubert. The intensity in his stare hadn't wavered in the slightest. It was his most striking feature. Always analyzing, always studying. Few people in her life had looked at her with such interest, as more than a dirty street rat or pretty face.

Dorothea made what would probably be another bad decision.

"I can get it done." She placed the flowers off to the side. "But you do know it will look suspicious to slip in and out of a woman's dressing room so abruptly."

"I apologize if it brings any scandal upon your reputation–"

"Scandal, oh please," In one fluid movement, she stood to close the distance between them. "At this rate there's not enough of it. You don't want to leave people room to question just what is actually going on."

It was a stolen, selfish thing to do, taking advantage of their mutual unrequited love. Edie was what has tied them together since they first met, but for just one moment she wanted to sever that tie.

She wanted Hubie to keep looking at her like that, like she was the most important person in the world.

When he spoke again, it was so quiet it could be barely called a whisper. "My apologies." He cradled her cheek with an almost reverent touch. "Allow me to make it up to you."

His kiss was slow and deliberate, the kiss of a man fulfilling a duty as opposed to giving into some deeper passion. Dorothea decided she didn't want to put up with slow. She deepened the kiss, pressing her body against him until there wasn't a breath of space between them.

Hubert pulled away, gasping for air, and this time Dorothea found herself the watching one. Usually he was so put together and composed. There was an intense pleasure in watching everything come undone, of knowing it was _her _who had affected _him_ so. As duty-bound as he was, there was nothing in Edie's schemes that depended on them sleeping together. He could stop this at any time, yet he came back again and again.

They moved to a sofa Dorothea kept off to the side. Usually she didn't use to entertain guests quite like this, but with her tongue half-way down Hubie's throat, she hardly cared. A nervous energy had started to infect the two of them, like scared teens fumbling around for the first time. For all his knowledge on poisons and assassinations, there was something innocent in his awkward movements.

Just as the thought occurred, he leaned forward to grope her breast, pulling on her top.

"Hold up tiger, you aren't messing up a Mittelfrank original costume."

Hubie froze; a flush painted his cheeks but she continue tell it was from exertion or embarrassment. "Getting told by _you_ to keep my hands to myself is a surprise." Regardless he took the break to let his overcoat and vest fall to the floor until he was in left in just a white button up and dress pants.

"Do you want me to?" She unbuttoned his shirt so that she could scrap her nails across the expanse of his chest. Watching him shiver at her touch sent a rush of heat straight between her legs.

"Please don't." He groaned, struggling to keep his voice steady.

They fell into a tangle of tongues, limbs, and teeth. For all her talk she hardly showed her much care as she tugged at his shirt, wanting to claw and bite at every inch of his skin. Really he was too pale. He looked so much better with the little splashes of pink her nips left behind. Each scrape of her mouth sent his hips grinding against hers. It was cute to see him so needy, his arousal pressed against her thigh. It was a delightful sight, watching him squirm beneath her, but she'd need more than this to get herself off.

She needed him to say it.

"Use your words Hubie," She leaned forward to lick the shell of his ear. "What do you want?"

At first there were only chocked grunts–intelligible sputtering that were foreign on a otherwise elegant tongue. Then finally he said it.

"You…" The lines of his face were so far pulled back she thought they might snap. Such a gorgeous sight, she couldn't take her eyes off of him as she pulled down his pants to grip his length with both hands.

Dorothea felt like a different person when they would come to this–a hungry beast that could only take in so much at once less she gorge herself. The soft moans that escaped his lips with every few strokes, her only labored breathing, how he struggled to keep those golden eyes open yet they remained focused on just her. She wondered if her sofa would survive the encounter unscathed considering how he dug into it so. Still endurance had always been a weakness of Hubie's. She wouldn't be able to savor this surrender forever.

She removed one hand from his cock to grip what remained of his collar. Then she pulled him into a bruising kiss. It didn't take much after that for him to come, spilling across her fingertips as he screwed his eyes shut and breathed into her. Yet through the entire ordeal she didn't let her gaze drift from his face for one second as she committed the moment to memory.

But eventually it was over. Slowly she untangled herself from him and stood to search for a spare cloth to clean herself with. And her pulse began to slow and her breathing evened out, she found a small voice asking a question it seemed to be muttering with increasing frequency.

_"Is this what you wanted?"_

Few would deny she was an attractive woman. If she wanted a warm body to fuck, she could find plenty of more attractive men and women to share her bed. Was it jealousy for Edie that drove her? No if it was that she would have gone after seducing their dear old professor. Perhaps it was mere interest in the challenge of trying to steal the heart of a man who had already dedicated every bit of it to someone else? But that didn't capture the full picture because if she wanted to hurt either Edie or Hubie, she wouldn't be acting as their eyes.

"Do you have to leave soon?" Once more his voice brought Dorothea back to Fodlan. She glanced back at Hubert to find that he was in the process of dressing.

"See it stops being an acceptable secret affair if you don't seem to be trying to hide it too hard. You gotta find that happy medium between staying too long and not long enough."

"I'll trust your judgment then," He stretched as he stood. "A pity though, because I hate leaving debts unpaid."

"Oh please if I meant to offer this as a service than I would have charged you up front."

"I don't mean to recompense you monetarily," Something close to hesitation flitted across his features. "But a partnership is supposed to be mutually beneficial. If you remain unsatisfied then I have failed to uphold my part of the deal."

It was completely inappropriate, but she couldn't help but burst into a fit of laughter at his words. The only thing that managed to motivate Dorothea to compose herself was the utter bafflement on Hubie's face.

"My apologies," She curled her fingers around the folds of her skirts. "It's just I'm the clearly selfish party in this deal."

Hubie wrinkled his nose. "I don't know if I'll ever understand you."

"I feel the same." A giggle escaped her lips. Her impromptu marriage proposal came back to her mind. It had been as ridiculous as he thought, but then this wasn't that different from what she had wanted–a chance to live for something bigger than herself while also having a taste of what it might be like to experience devotion in return. She needed his immorality to try and muster a bit of good in return.

"I guess I feel this question might illuminate things. How would you feel if Edie threw you away? If she decided one day she had no use for you?"

Hubert grimaced. "It would be dishonest to say I wouldn't be affected by the decision, but I would try to respect her wishes…and perhaps look for a way to continuing helping from the shadows."

"See I don't think I would be able to handle things so gracefully," Dorothea sighed. It suddenly occurred to her, was she really different from Edie? If one day Hubie got down on his hands and knees to offer his entire soul, how would she react? Would she be satisfied once she was someone's first and final choice, or would she toss it away and simply look for more?

Dorothea furrowed her brow. Regardless of whatever this was, she liked Hubie. And as much as he liked to threaten and joke with them all, Hubie probably liked her too. As long as you supported Edie, he was surprisingly easy-going. Even if her charms couldn't turn his head, she wouldn't want to throw away years worth of companionship.

"I really need to get going." She searched for where she had discarded her top, only to find Hubie offering it to her.

"Thank you, Hubie," Their fingers brushed, not quite creating sparks, but something just as warm.

Maybe she wouldn't be able to find that unconditional support she wanted, but somehow her heart still trusted Hubert to look out for her. Even if he hadn't earned it, the fact he wouldn't ever pretend he had made her want to extend it all the more.

"I hope to keep doing business with you."

* * *

**A.N. So this is far from the first Three Houses fic I intended to write but the end of their A support and paired ending just made me ? so hard I wanted to try and figure out how something between them would work, plus Dorothea's post time-skip characterization fascinated me a lot yet the game didn't really comment on it much.**

**Idk if this really answered the question, but I guess the most coherent explanation I can offer is that the war really shook Dorothea's trust in the strength of her friendship with her fellow classmates, knowing if she had been in a different house they would have probably killed her without hesitation, and the fact she's always known Hubert to not be completely trustworthy makes his moments of vulnerability feel more genuine, sometimes it is better to face the devil you know**


	2. There is Thunder in Our Hearts

Hubert didn't like dwelling in the past.

Memories reminded him of the water nymphs that haunted old Brigid storybooks, gentle alluring things that would drown you the minute you let your guard down. Every tool had its use, but few could disarm its own wielder so easily. As a result, he only took from the past what he truly needed: his duty to Edelgard and his talents to carry them out.

After all he had spent too many nights ten again, frantic and fumbling for a liege that had been spirited away.

But being back at Garreg Mach stirred a sense of nostalgia nevertheless. Both Edelgard and their old professor had been excited to see their old haunting grounds refurbished and reopened. Many of their old friends had even taken up professorships of their own, providing an unexpected reunion. The subsequent ball to celebrate this new start was the ribbon that tied it all together. In theory there shouldn't be any reason for a single guest to be anything but delighted.

Still business always came before pleasure, and so Hubert found himself stalking the shadows of the courtyard once more. His behavior might earn a few odd looks, a handful of whispers that might drag on Edelgard's reputation, but it was a small price to pay. Fear was a priceless tool. Fate had granted him both an above average height and an off-putting countenance. Leaning into those gifts, making others question if he was truly man or fiend was a talent he had cultivated for years.

When there are multiple monsters bumping around in the dark, you learn quickly that it pays to be the scariest of them all.

"Now there you are Hubie!" He turned around to find Dorothea waving from all the way across near the reception hall's entrance. Despite the unprofessional outburst, her charms still managed to turn a number of heads as she rushed over to take his hands into hers. "Can't believe you're moping as usual. You're the only Black Eagle I have yet to dance with you know?"

It would be easy to view her behavior as ditsy and air-headed. He had almost done the same when they first met, quickly shuffling her onto the list of non-threats. But while trailing behind a Kingdom noble who might double as a spy for those who slither, she had done the same–spotted him from far away and called out to him. No matter the circumstance, those sharp green eyes could always cut through the shadows to find the man who remained.

"Already have your claws in the new students? Seems like you take after Professor Manuela in more ways than one." The jab came naturally to his lips, but with little venom.

"There you go making things sound all worse than they are. Really you're going to have to apologize greatly for talking about a lady like that."

"Hmm I don't suppose I could pay you go away then, could I?"

"Won't get me out of your hair that easily," Dorothea smiled, and for a moment he could believe they really were back in the past and she was just another carefree and vivacious school girl.

But there was a tightness to her grip as her nails grazed his skin that reminded him of the magic that had stained those fingertips.

"Come on, would it hurt so much to spare me just one dance?" Her gaze caught his again, and he forced himself to resist the tide of memories. All that mattered was what they were now.

"If you must be so insistent…" And yet he had no name for the warmth they shared as he clutched her hand in return.

Even as the two of them joined the dance-hall together, there was a part of himself that still could not accept any pleasure that could be drawn from the action. That part seemed to haunt the walls, watching the two of them waltz as if they were strangers. It was fascinating how two terrors of war could become so harmless looking. Just another beauty and her beast: a noble son with more money than charisma trying to grasp something delicate and bright for just one night.

Hubert couldn't help but scoff. He had learned a long time ago that wanting things was a dangerous game.

"What's so funny?" Dorothea's voice brought him back to his body.

"Just surprised I managed to keep in time with the music for once," Quickly he pulled her closer to him to avoid another couple that seemed determined to crash into every other pair on the floor. "As much as I can appreciate good music, my dance tutor thought so lowly of my skills that he argued a drunk toddler would be a better partner than me."

Dorothea rolled her eyes. "What a snob. I appreciate anyone who at least won't trip me if we try to turn."

"Well I did nearly sever his big toe from the rest of his foot."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Oh accident?"

He couldn't help himself, a deep belly laugh erupted from his being. It got so bad, he nearly did stumble straight into Dorothea, and as he tried to help support her, she descended into a fit of giggles as well.

The music came to an end before they could hurt themselves further. As they pulled apart from one another, Dorothea wiped her eyes as she tried to compose herself.

"What a pair we make!" He turned to find Dorothea's pale skin had grown flushed as she attempted to catch her breath. "You don't think you could spare more than just another dance, do you Hubie?"

Heat flared against his neck despite himself. "You ask as if you don't already know the answer to the question."

She dragged him off with the same bounce in her step as before, yet this time her energy wasn't quite so contagious. With each stride he sobered just a bit more. The excitement of a dance couldn't last forever, and he found himself considering her earlier comment. Indeed who were they when they weren't the Emperor's fearsome attack dogs?

There was a stab in his chest. He didn't know if he wanted to know that answer.

By the time she shoved him into a spare storage closet, Hubert could tell he had transformed back into the person he truly was.

"Why did you take me away from my station?" There wasn't supposed to be any venom this time, yet it seeped through all the same.

"Am I nothing but a fly to you?" Dorothea snapped back. It seemed as if she had lost some of her shine as well, regaining her now usual weariness. A part of himself regretted baiting her like that. The rest of him forced himself to not care.

"If you desire to be a distraction, then yes. Still I thought you had told me once that you wanted to be more than that." Hubert loomed over her. Peace never looked good on him. Playing the villain was the only way a creature like him knew to survive. "If you want to be useful, then prove it."

Dorothea gave a huff as she leaned against the back of the door and crossed her arms. It wasn't fear, for some reason she had never seemed to be all that frightened of his threats, but he could settle for annoyance in a pinch.

"That guy you sent me after? He was quite eccentric and forward. Not that unusual for an opera patron but I managed to talk to his friends as well, and they were shocked to see how he had changed since the war." She tilted her chin towards him. "Just like you said, 'almost a completely different person.' Funny how he's also invested quite a lot into local mercenary troops lately."

Hubert sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Just as I feared. Soon this night war of ours might get dragged out into the daylight."

"More fighting…" It was Dorothea's turn to sigh, tired and worn down. "I don't know if I can take much more of it."

Hubert looked away. When they had first declared war, he had been young and full of rage. For some, it must have seemed like madness, but for him that was the only time the world truly made sense. Edelgard had never had to privilege of peace, why defend a status quo simply to maintain that illusion for others? He had trained all his life to be a shadow, a knife wedged between the shoulder-blades of her enemies. To be able to carve her path without any obligations holding him back was freeing. To simply let go and be nothing more than a tool in the hands of a worthy wielder was a gift he feared he'd never receive.

And yet after spending five years with the same companions, empathy for their struggles had wormed its way through his mind. At first the mere concept had felt like a betrayal. After burning for no one but Edelgard for most of his life, he didn't know if there was any space left in him for anyone else. Most of the time he still wasn't sure if it was a bad idea to divide his loyalty so. Still even then he did not want them to suffer unnecessarily.

"There are ways you can still be of use without joining the front lines." He spoke slowly, as if feeling around for the right foothold. "Edelgard greatly appreciates your intel."

Something strange flitted across her face. But before he could place it, she turned away. "What do you think of it?"

There was that uncomfortable heat again. "I appreciate anyone who will travel down this red path with me." Hubert toyed with the hem of his gloves. "It is a sacrifice I don't take lightly."

"I don't want to know what the Minister of the Imperial Household thinks." She pushed herself off the door and closed the distance between the two of them. "I want to hear what you, Hubie, have to say."

This close, it occurred to him, he wanted to kiss her. He had wanted to for a while now. His better judgment warned that it was a bad habit to expect these trysts, yet his hands found themselves wandering across her waist all the same.

"I think I'm in the mood for that second dance," He pulled her in until there was no distance left. "And I would prefer to lead this time."

Again there was the split feeling of being in two places at once. There was his physical body, biting, licking, and grinding like a mad animal, and that ghost of his from the dance-hall. It noted her every gasp and moan with a clinical obsession, determined to pleasure her in the most efficient manner. Which was more difficult than one might think considering how_ distracting _Dorothea could be. The way she sucked on his bottom lip fogged up his mind, making coherent thought very difficult.

With a groan, he wrestled himself away, pinning her wrists above her head so that he might have a moment to breathe. Yet before he could completely compose himself, his mind was sent spiraling when he noticed blood on her lips.

His lifted his right hand to his mouth, but paused mid-action lest he stain his white gloves. The internal dilemma must have amused Dorothea because she made full eye contact with him as she slowly licked her lips in one languid swipe of the tongue.

Such an action had no right to be that arousing.

"Seems like you've already taken a bite out of me." He did his best to hide his breathlessness, but it still leaked out in an airy gasp. "I don't wish to repay you with more blood so please–" Carefully he bite the fingertip of his glove pulled it off with his teeth. He couldn't help but admire the shocked look on her face before he let the glove fall to the ground. "–let me make good on some debts."

He didn't know every rumor that swirled around him, but apparently his gloved hands had been a common subject. Alas they hid no talons or permanently bloodied fingertips, only a couple of pale, bony digits. Yet to reveal them was a vulnerability that managed to send Hubert's own heartbeat careening. He only bared his hands when he had secrets to keep. Knowing this meeting between them would remain completely clandestine gave him a new-found forwardness.

Dorothea kept staring at him with those green eyes, waiting for him to act. He rewarded her patience with another bruising kiss as he slipped his hand under her dress. As he cupped her mound, he felt Dorothea shudder.

"Careful," His grip around her wrists tightened as he slipped a finger inside her. A moan slipped from her lips, but he muffled her by slipping his tongue into her mouth. "You wouldn't want any unexpected guests would you?"

"What if I did?" Dorothea murmured against his lips. "How would you feel if they caught the Minister shrinking his duties?"

"Guess I need to be careful then," He rubbed her in just the right spot, and she bucked her lips desperately in his hand. "I'm not in the mood for sharing."

"You don't pretend that I'm Edie then?"

The question cut to his core. No matter how much he tried to focus on the simple task of pleasuring another body, he felt frozen by her challenging gaze.

"Sorry, not the time to talk. Forget I said any–"

"I don't–" Hubert interrupted. "But it is ok if you do."

Before the awkwardness could get drawn out even further, he added another finger to the mix, increasing his pacing along with the pressure. Yet no longer could he delude himself that this was simply a way to blow off steam. It hadn't been a lie, yet he remained haunted by the question of what would have happened if he had said yes regardless. If it would have pushed her away.

Hubert scraped his teeth against her earlobe to hide his distress. He didn't need a lover, nor a wife or concubine. If his chest was cut open he doubted if there would be anything but cobwebs where his heart was supposed to be. He had sacrificed it to Edelgard long ago and refused to return to that limbless, lost state of his youth.

Yet he did not want to be alone. He didn't want to continue down this red path alone.

It took a while for him to recognize that Dorothea had come, until she was mewling and nudging her thigh against his still inserted hand. He set her down with a gentle disinterest as he tried to clean and compose himself. There wasn't much to do besides wipe off her arousal and reglove himself, yet Hubert still felt intensely bare.

This was why he had quit amusing love-struck maids, even when he had thought there might b some use to it. It was unpleasant to leave yourself so dependent on another, whether for your own satisfaction or just as something simple as to stab you in the back. He thought if there was anyone he could expose himself to, it would be someone as equally as devoted to Edelgard as him, but if he was going to allow himself to be affected by them…

"Hey?" He looked up to find Dorothea staring at him again. "You'd kill me if Edie told you to right?"

"Of course." He answered instantly.

"Thanks for reminding me," She put a hand to her chest as she caught her breath, and Hubert had to keep from mirroring the same response.

A minute or so passed before Dorothea stood and tried to straighten herself as well. "Your ministrations weren't unappreciated, but I hope you weren't lying, Hubie."

"I wasn't," Since she had joined the Black Eagles Strike Force, Hubert hadn't needed to deceive her at all. For all the danger she held, there was an unusual safeness as well. "I don't care if it is on the battlefield or not as long as you continue to serve Edelgard, and I will do anything to keep you in her service."

"That's my plan," Dorothea seemed to stare at something that wasn't there. "I can't help but love her too."

Hubert found himself reminded of her last encounter, when she had proclaimed herself the selfish party in this arrangement. Such judgment was too simplistic, ignoring her own self-sacrifice and the satisfaction he got from a fellow companion.

"Perhaps one day when there are no more wars, you might have to guide me down a different path for Edelgard's sake as well." He ran his lips over the spot Dorothea had scraped him with her teeth. "A bloodied hand might grow to be less needed tool in time." He had discovered a long time ago that he couldn't be Edelgard's everything. He didn't care if the professor was first in her heart as long as he never became obsolete.

"You know that kinda reminds me of a few operas," Dorothea muttered to herself. "They always made it seem like when a couple had sex they transformed into one new being. I wonder what being we would create."

Hubert tried to remember what it had been like to dance with her, how they had laughed and stumbled and felt like school children again.

In the end he couldn't capture that person they had been for a fleeting second.

* * *

**A.N. So I thought I was over these two once I got the first chapter out but surprise I was validated, so I wanted to explore Hubert this time**

**I feel like even without Edelgard present, it is impossible to leave her out of any of his relationships, Hubert doesn't even need to love her romantically, but aa lot of his identity is wrapped in her, so fitting anyone else is an interesting exercise, still maybe someone dedicated to serving others could find solace in someone wanting to be wanted**


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